Eroded Mind
by Goddess-Moose
Summary: A short oneshot about Riker. Very agnsty.


**_Eroded Mind_**

_Disclamer: Alas, Star Trek is not mine. (But I guess you already figured that out)_

_Author's Note: This was truly meant to be a one-shot. Its file name on my computer is "Randomness avoiding final". I was avoiding studying for my Honors World History Final and this just came to me. Reviews are appreciated._

Will collapsed against the cold stone wall shaking uncontrollably. They really had outdone themselves that time. The mere memory of the pain jerked his body and caused more shuddering. He had never known such pain. Nor had he ever felt so alone. His bruised battered body slid to the cold, damp mud floor, filling the entirety of the small cell. It was small, painfully small. If Will had been able to stand, he would have bumped his head; the ceiling was about three inches too low. There was barely enough room for him to lie down. It was pitch black, which was a blessing of sorts because he couldn't see how much the batterings showed on his broken body.

Vaguely he knew that someone should be looking for him, that he belonged somewhere. But those thoughts were locked away behind a hazy curtain that he couldn't part, no matter how hard he tried. He soon realized that whatever drug they had given him to stay awake was loosing effect; he was slipping away, farther from the pain. He drifted off to a world free from his barbaric existence.

It was full of hazy dreams of beaches and sunshine. That was what he always remembered: The Sun. It was soft and warm, not the clutching cold that filled the prison and his scantily clad body. His body lay in the cold, dark prison cell while his mind lay on warm sunny beaches. The sun seemed bizarre and abnormal to his eroded mind, which knew little other than the bleak present.

There were people in the dreams, too. A beautiful woman with long, dark, curly hair, and deep chocolate brown eyes was always in them. She hugged him and seemed to love him, and he knew her, at least in the dream. There were other people too, and other places. He seemed to travel, and jump around. He would be on a beach with the woman one second, and in the stars the next. She was there, too. There were other people on this mysterious vessel that traveled the stars, people who cared about him. It clawed at him that he didn't know who they were. He knew them in the dreams. Everybody was so happy…. even him.

The places in his dreams were nothing like the prison. They were clean and spacious. They were new and well-lit.They weren't small, cramped, and dingy. Will couldn't accept that they really existed; that anything existed outside of the prison. They were such an opposite extreme from his current position. It never occurred to him that the dreams were based on his own memories. Nothing that wonderful existed; it couldn't.

Unfortunately, he had to wake up. He woke to wails and screams from adjoining cells, even a screaming child who sent shivers down his back. But every little movement, even a shiver, sent stabbing pain through his entire body. He lay there, not wanting to move, not wanting to even breathe, an action that shot piercing pains through his chest. Will had almost become immune to the hunger pangs that plagued him constantly. He knew that there had to be something more, something better for him. He couldn't live out the rest of his existence, however short it may be, in this hellhole. His whole body was aching, and worse, the dreams were quickly slipping away, leaving him with nothing pleasant to hold on to; only pain and misery.

He started coughing, a deep cough that shook his whole body, triggering more pain in his chest. The coughing spell lasted several long minutes, after which Will felt even worse than before. It was hard to breathe, and it got harder every day.

He wished he knew who he was. He knew his name was Will, but even that seemed to be slipping away. He had to think about it before he could say his own name. He knew that that wasn't normal; it couldn't be. If he could only remember what normal was……


End file.
